THE Summit held in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia, gave evidence of the ever-growing abyss that exists between "Our America", as Martí called it, and the "turbulent and brutal North that despises us." Cartagena witnessed a rebellion of Latin America and the Caribbean against the imposition made by "one and a half governments" which applied their imperial veto to paragraphs in the Draft Final Declaration of the so-called Summit of the Americas which demanded an end to the blockade and Cuba’s exclusion from hemispheric events.

Since the celebration of the former Summit in 2009, the illusions about the policy of President Obama vanished; a gap between his speeches and his actions widened. There were no major changes in the policy towards Latin America and the Caribbean. The blockade against Cuba continued and it was even tightened in the financial sector, despite the international condemnation and the overwhelming vote against it at the United Nations General Assembly. The purpose of the blockade is "to bring about hunger, desperation and overthrow of government", which is now known as "change of regime".

The ALBA group met on February 4 last in Caracas on the occasion of the celebration of an anniversary of the historical Civic and Military Rebellion of 1992. It adopted one Declaration on the Sovereignty of Argentina over the Malvinas Islands, another on the blockade and described the imposition of Cuba’s exclusion from these events as unfair and unacceptable. President Correa resolutely stated that if this issue was not resolved, Ecuador would not attend the Cartagena Summit. This statement shook the entire region. That courageous stand was the prelude to what happened next.

President Raúl Castro expressed at the ALBA meeting: "I would like to thank President Correa, Evo and all of you for your statements…You are absolutely right; this is an issue of utmost importance. We have never asked for such a measure, but that does not mean we will not support this one, which we think is only fair."

The president of Colombia, Juan Manuel Santos visited us, in a respectful fashion, and received a response from President Raúl Castro Ruz stating that Cuba, if invited, would attend the Summit, abiding by its principles and the truth, with absolute respect, as is customary. He deserves credit for explicitly introducing the issue of the blockade and the exclusion of Cuba.

President Evo Morales, who was the first to question the Summit at the February ALBA meeting in Caracas, waged a battle in Cartagena and stated as follows: "We are going through a phase of disintegration. It is not possible that one country could veto the presence of Cuba. Therefore, there is no integration; and with the absence of Ecuador, an absence that is only fair to protest the U.S. veto against Cuba, what kind of integration can we talk about?"

On April 13, President Chávez exclaimed: "Now, truth be told, if these two governments, the United States and Canada, refuse to discuss issues that are so profoundly identified with Latin America and the Caribbean such as the issue of Cuba, the sister nation of Cuba, the fraternal Cuba, or the issue of the Malvinas Islands, what’s the point of holding any more Summits of the Americas? We will have to do away with these Summits". Before that, he had written: "We likewise call for an end to the shameful and criminal blockade of the sister Republic of Cuba, a blockade that has been cruelly and brutally imposed by the empire for more than 50 years against the heroic people of José Martí."

At a massive rally in solidarity with Cuba, full of young people, held on April 14 in Managua, Daniel Ortega stated as follows: "I think it is high time for the government of the United States to listen to all Latin American nations, with the most diverse ideologies and political philosophies, ranging from the most conservative to the most revolutionary. But, despite that, they all agree that Cuba must be present in these meetings; otherwise there won’t be any other so-called, or misnamed, Summit of the Americas."

The unitary and solid stand adopted by Our America on the blockade, the exclusion of Cuba and the Malvinas Islands was truly impressive. The resolve and dignity upheld by the President of Argentina in her strong defense of these causes were indicative.

We felt proud when the President of Brazil, Dilma Rousseff, expressed with serene dignity, in front of Obama, that the Greater Homeland can only be treated as an equal and reaffirmed the common position in support of Argentina and Cuba.

The Caribbean leaders gave evidence of the soundness of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and the fact that the Caribbean and Latin America are likewise indivisible. Their defense of Argentinean sovereignty over the Malvinas Islands and their traditional and categorical support to Cuba were transcendental.

The left, popular, trade union, youth and student organizations, as well as the NGO’s, gathered at the Congress of the Peoples in Cartagena expressed an emotional solidarity with Cuba. The Inter-Parliamentary Meeting of the Americas condemned the exclusion of and the blockade of our country.

The United States underestimated the fact that on December 2, 2011, in Caracas, on the occasion of the Bicentennial of the Independence of that country, under the leadership of Chávez, and on the occasion of the 55th anniversary of the Landing of the Granma, the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) was founded, an event that had been anticipated by the leader of the Revolution, Fidel Castro Ruz, on February, 2010, when he wrote: "no other institutional event in our hemisphere in the course of the last century has been so transcendental."

At that first Summit, when Cuba was elected as President of CELAC for the year 2013, Army General Raúl Castro Ruz stated: "With the decisions which we have adopted here and the joint work that we have carried out during the last three years, we have vindicated more than two centuries of struggles and hopes. Having come this far has required effort, blood and sacrifice. The colonial metropolis of the past and the imperial powers of the present have opposed this endeavor."

Obama does not seem to understand either the significance of the Bolivarian victory of April 13, 2002, or the fact that it’s been ten years now since the coup d’etat, organized by his predecessor with the support of the OAS and the Spanish government headed by Aznar, against President Hugo Chávez, in an attempt to annihilate the Bolivarian Revolution and assassinate its leader. As the Venezuelan Foreign Minister, Nicolás Maduro, reminded him, looking him straight in the eye, in a memorable speech delivered at the Cartagena Summit, the U.S. government continues to intervene in the internal affairs of Venezuela and support the coup conspirators whose members have now become electoral candidates.

President Obama should have realized that the Cartagena Summit was not the best place to offer Cuba advice about democracy, much less when the person attempting to do so was absolutely isolated, forced to apply the empire’s veto, given its lack of ideas and political or moral authority. He engaged in demagogy prior to some troublesome elections. He should rather take care of his wars, crises and politicking. We, Cubans, will take care of Cuba.

The United States never wanted to discuss the terrible consequences of neoliberalism for Latin America and the Caribbean; or the situation of immigrants in the United States and Europe, who are separated from their families, cruelly deported or murdered at walls like the one that has been built along the Río Bravo. The U.S. government never agreed to talk about the poor either, who account for half of humanity.

The empire and the former colonial metropolis do not listen to the "indignados," their citizens and minorities who live in poverty in those opulent societies, while investing huge amounts of money to bail out corrupt bankers and speculators. In the superpower, 10 per cent of families control 80 per cent of the wealth. Those resources are enough to solve the problems of the planet.

The novelty at the Cartagena meeting was that many of the governments, with natural differences and different approaches, demanded an alternative model that gives priority to solidarity and complementarity over competition based on selfishness; guarantees a harmonious relationship with nature rather than the plundering of natural resources or frenzied consumption. They called for the protection of cultural diversity as opposed to the imposition of values and lifestyles that are alien to our peoples. They asked for the consolidation of peace and rejected wars and militarization.

They launched an appeal to recover the human condition in our societies and build a world that promotes respect for the plurality of ideas and models; the democratic participation of society in government affairs, including consultation about economic and monetary policies; the battle against illiteracy, infant and maternal mortality and curable diseases. They called for greater access to both free and truthful information and potable water. They recognized the existence of social exclusion and the fact that human rights are to be exercised by all and should not be used as a political weapon by the powerful.

This time, the United States government was forced to listen, not to an almost unique voice as had been the case for decades or to a slender minority as occurred until very recently. Now it was the majority of peoples which expressed itself at the Summit to promote this indispensable debate either through their Presidents and Heads of Delegations or through the stand adopted by those who did not attend. The Summit was censored because the empire listens with deaf ears.

In Cartagena, the Monroe Doctrine –"America for the Americans"- was laid bare. As if no one could remember the deception of the Alliance for Progress in 1961 and the Americas Initiative or FTAA in 1994, they have tried to trick us into trusting the "Alliance of Equals."

As Comandante en Jefe Fidel Castro Ruz predicted during an international event held in Cartagena on June 14, 1994, the so-called Summits of the Americas have only benefited the North.

When expressing his opinion about a similar meeting held in Washington 105 years ago, José Martí wrote: "After viewing with judicial eyes the antecedents, motives, and ingredients of the feast, it is essential to say, for it is true, that the time has come for Spanish America to declare its second independence."

During the meeting itself, ALBA declared both officially and publicly that without a radical change in the nature of these Summits, it will never attend these meetings again. Other continental leaders have made similar statements.

As to the OAS - that unburied corpse - there is no need to say anything about it.

The Republic of Argentina has the inalienable right to exercise its sovereignty over the Malvinas, South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands as well as over the surrounding maritime areas.

Cuba is mindful of the fact that the Greater Homeland will not be complete until the sister people of Puerto Rico is able to exercise its inalienable right to self-determination and until Puerto Rico, a Latin American and Caribbean nation, submitted to the colonial status imposed by the United States, achieves its full independence.

With a solid consensus on regional sovereignty and the defense of our culture within our rich diversity, with almost 600 million inhabitants and abundant natural resources, Our America has now the opportunity to solve the serious problems of extreme inequality in the distribution of wealth and could contribute, with its already obvious strength, to the "equilibrium of the world", the defense of peace and the preservation of the human species.

To that end, and in the face of attempts to divide us and derail us, which will continue to appear over and over again, Our America must remain united.

No one in the North should ever forget that 51 years ago the Cuban people were already defending, at this very hour, a Socialist Revolution on the bloodstained sands of Playa Girón and that, ever since, "all the peoples of the Americas are a little bit freer."

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Pan-African News Wire

The Pan-African News Wire is an international electronic press service designed to foster intelligent discussion on the affairs of African people throughout the continent and the world. The press agency was founded in January of 1998 and has published thousands of articles and dispatches in newspapers, magazines, journals, research reports, blogs and websites throughout the world.
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